It is common practice in railroad and mass and/or rapid transit operations to constantly check the alertness of the locomotive engineer or trainman by requiring him to routinely perform a certain task when the train is moving along its route of travel. In the past, the train operator was required to constantly depress a foot pedal or a push-button switch on a deadman's handle to maintain normal operation. However, the operator is capable of circumventing such a simple safety control device by placing a weight on the foot pedal or by taping the push-button switch to provide a false indication of his watchfulness. Presently, a pneumatic cycling valve is used in railroad applications as a means of requiring the locomotive engineer to periodically acknowledge his attentiveness by alternately activating a foot pedal spool valve device in order to suppress a penalty brake application. The use of a pneumatic cycling spool valve type of vigilance safety control system entails moving parts and O-ring seals which are susceptible to wear and leakage problems. Alternately, an existing locomotive safety control vigilance system utilizes a depressed foot pedal for resetting the vigilance control. This latter control system is quite sophisticated and rather complex and includes a three-stage timing circuit with two drop-out time relays and an air reservoir and choke doing the timing. Thus, the electrical circuitry is somewhat involved and employs a large number of components or elements which is costly to manufacture and expensive to purchase.